Posts Tagged ‘Hillary Clinton’

July 22, 2015 · 3:32 PM ET

HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS — The end of one season and the start of the next used to be well-defined.

We’d go from the NBA regular season to the playoffs, the playoffs to the Draft and from the Draft to free agency and then on to the Summer League season before the league would go dark for at least a month or two. But no more.

The blending of the seasons in the NBA is complete. And it’s all one great big glorious blur of hoops hysteria that feeds the insatiable appetites of the masses. There’s no sense in complaining about it, this non-stop barrage of games, Drafts, free agent fevers, Summer League’s and the like. It’s best to buckle up and just go along for the ride.

Besides, what would your summer have been like without Karl-Anthony Towns, D’Angelo Russell, Jahlil Okafor, Kristap Porzingis and the rest of the incoming rookie class? Or headline makers like DeAndreJordan, Mark Cuban, Doc Rivers, Blake Griffin, Chandler Parsons and everyone else involved in the Clippers-Mavericks free agent drama?

And that’s just the beginning of the conversation that includes an endless supply of moves and rumored moves (DeMarcus Cousins is still a member of the Sacramento Kings, as of this moment) that have kept our cups running over this summer.

Now we’re debating which comes first, a lady in the Oval Office (perhaps a Clinton …) or one on the bench as a pioneer as the first female head coach (Becky Hammon, anyone …) in the NBA?

How we got from the Golden State Warriors and KIA MVP Steph Curry winning it all for the first time in 40 years to Seth Curry stealing the show in the Las Vegas Summer League in roughly a month’s time is anyone’s guess. But we do our best to sort through it all, and more, onEpisode 206 of the Hang Time Podcast … Summer Wrap!

Each week, we’ll ask our stable of scribes across the globe to weigh in on the most important NBA topics of the day — and then give you a chance to step on the scale, too, in the comments below.

> What will we see first: a woman in an NBA head coach’s office, or a woman in the oval office?

Steve Aschburner, NBA.com: This question risks getting political, which would violate the Michael Jordan rule of sports — that is, Democrats and Republicans both spend money on the NBA — so it serves no good purpose alienating either. From a simple timeline standpoint, if there’s no woman in the White House by January 2017, it probably wouldn’t happen until January 2021 at the earliest — by which time Becky Hammon or someone else certainly would have been hired (and, demonstrating true equality in that profession, maybe even fired by then too). My one hope is that, whichever happens first, it happens because of merit, not symbolism.

Fran Blinebury, NBA.com: How about we just vote Becky Hammon president and let her appoint Gregg Popovich as Secretary of Snarling? I’m going with the Oval Office.

Shaun Powell, NBA.com: I like Hillary Clinton’s chances better than Becky Hammon’s. And speaking of Hammon, I want to see her on the bench one day soon, but would hate if she’s rushed along just for the sake of making history. Hammon has only been an assistant coach for one season and doesn’t even sit next to Popovich on the Spurs’ bench yet. By comparison, Mike Budenholzer spent 16 years on the Spurs’ bench before taking the Hawks’ job (and winning Coach of the Year).

John Schuhmann, NBA.com: A Spurs assistant coach doesn’t need to be in the chair next to Gregg Popovich to get poached by another team (see Jacque Vaughn to Orlando), and Becky Hammon’s Summer League experience definitely accelerates her progress toward a head coaching job. But I’ll still go with the Oval Office, because there’s a decent chance of happening in January of 2017.

Sekou Smith, NBA.com: It pains me that this question still needs to be asked in 2015. Seriously. They are both long overdue. But I’m going with the Oval Office, mostly because of the competency of the candidate already neck-deep in the race. The fact is, any knuckledragger still underestimating the ability of someone of any gender, race, creed or color to do the job needs to be voted off the island. I’ve listened for days now about people worrying that a female coach might not be able to connect in a NBA locker room and struggling to garner respect from her potential peers and others. It’s garbage. Every coach is going to face that challenge at one time or another. And while we’re on the subject, no woman will be able to prove those foolish theories wrong until someone in the decision-making ranks musters the courage to give her the shot. Just saying.

Ian Thomsen, NBA.com: Right now you have to say that Hillary Clinton is closer to her goal than Becky Hammon is to hers — but someday there will be women in both chairs.

Lang Whitaker, NBA.com’s All-Ball Blog: Either way, I think we’re going to see one of these happen soon. Forced to choose, my guess is we get a woman president first, maybe even next year. Becky Hammon obviously proved her worth as an NBA coach, but winning a Summer League title isn’t an automatic guarantee of success as an NBA coach, or even a direct ticket to a head coaching gig. Although put to a public vote, I suspect there are a few fanbases that might vote to give Hammon a chance immediately.